36 Hours in Kuala Lumpur

The SkyBar at Traders Hotel, with a view of the Petronas Twin Towers.
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By NAOMI LINDT
Published: December 20, 2009

SITUATED at the juncture of two rivers, Kuala Lumpur means “muddy confluence” in Malay, but this fast-rising city has redefined itself. With its looming skyscrapers, stellar cuisine and thumping night life, the Malaysian capital has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s most alluring metropolises, offering all the amenities of a major city but on a friendlier scale. It’s not just the rivers that converge: founded in 1857, Kuala Lumpur is full of odd juxtapositions. Old cafes are tucked under gleaming expressways. Calls to prayer beckon white-collar professionals from towers of steel and glass. And disparate ethnic groups — Malays, Straits Chinese and Indians — rub shoulders in glitzy malls and leafy parks, all of which gives this city a cosmopolitan flair unrivaled in the region. More

A Town Called Panic (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

A scene from the film “A Town Called Panic,” which uses toys and stop-motion animation.
December 16, 2009
Building a New World and Populating It With Plastic
By MIKE HALE

“A Town Called Panic” is an adventure story as fast-paced and exciting as any currently in theaters. The fact that it stars a dashing plastic horse and his excitable wards, a plastic cowboy and Indian, only makes it that much better. More

Money

Microsoft's giving up on Money. Who knew?

If only Quicken would import files from my home town credit union...

I don't know what all of the fuss is about.

I've had a green house ever since we took the wallpaper down -- well except for the bathroom and a bedroom or two where we used a different color paint...

Alzheimers?

Poor, poor, poor senator St. John McCain is apparently suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Please send me all of your money and I will be sure to forward it to him.

During the course of the frenzied floor debate, then-Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) spoke in favor of an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) that would have restricted Bush’s constitutional powers to wage war against Iraq. After a minute and a half, Dayton ran out of time, prompting this exchange:

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator’s time has expired.

Mr. DAYTON. I ask for unanimous consent that I have 30 seconds more to finish my remarks.

Mr. McCAIN. I object. More

And just yesterday, he wuz saying"McCAIN: I’ve been around here 20-some years. First time I’ve ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. … I just haven’t seen it before myself. And I don’t like it. And I think it harms the comity of the Senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute. I’m sure that time is urgent here, but I doubt that it would be that urgent."

Dank Sei Gott

We have not had a senile president since Ronnie RayGun, nor an idiot since Junior Bush.